This is one of the few truly alpine basins easily accessible in the West Kootenay. It saw mining activity and was reached via the historic 1890s Lemon Creek Trail, now little used because of a washed-out bridge. Now access is primarily via the core area of Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park.
Unfortunately, the campground at Sapphire Lakes is closed. Glory Basin is large, surrounded by four easy-to-climb mountains and deserves at least a few days. Seeing is only practical as a backpacking trip allowing time to explore. Glory Basin is a paradise worth spending time in. Nobody else will be there.
Key elevations: Sapphire Lakes 2250m (7380′); Lemon Pass 2271m (7450′);
Lemon Creek Side: TH Lemon Ck Trail 1250m (4100′); TH Nilsik Ck 1372m (4330′); Sunrise / Outlook Col at the top end of Glory Basin 7850′;
Enterprise Pass TH for Lemon Pass.
Season: July to late September or October.
Access: Moderate to difficult
Map: 82F/11 Kokanee Peak, 82F/14 Slocan
Drive: Lemon Creek FSR
From Silverton: 34.6 km (21.5 miles) south
From Playmor Junction (Hwy 6 and 3A between Castlegar and Nelson): Drive 38.9 km (24.2 miles) north. Turn east onto the Lemon Creek FSR.
Lemon Creek FSR – 16km Park. 1250m (4100′)
From Nelson, it is shorter to drive via Duhamel Creek. 25km from the orange bridge to the junction with Lemon Creek FSR.
Trails/Routes to Access Glory Basin: There are many ways to access/exit Glory Basin. Distances are to the area between the two Sapphire Lakes & Lemon Pass 2250m (7380′). Refer to each post for details.
1. Lemon Pass from Enterprise Pass and Kokanee core area. This is now the main way to access Glory Basin by trail. Pass Kaslo Lake and climb up to Enterprise Pass. Leave the trail at the marked junction and ascend SW up Griffin Creek. Pass over the low saddle of Lemon Pass 2271m (7450′) and descend to the lakes. If climbing Mt John Carter Or Outlook Mt leave the trail at the outhouse at the south end of Kokanee Lake.
2. Nilsik Creek Route/Trail: 9km and elevation gain of 1150m (3770′) to Sunshne/Outlook col. 2.3kms and 400-foot descent to Sapphire Lakes;
3. Lemon Creek Trail. A historic 1890s mining trail. 9.6km, 3200 feet elevation gain. The trail is washed out at 9km. Possible to cross the creek at low water (late in season and early in the day). Or stay on the north side of the creek for the entire headwall.
4. Kokanee Pass between Kokanee Lake and Keen Lake. Leave the trail at the pass and contour into Outlook Creek to reach Sapphire Lakes.
5. To climb Mt John Carter and Outlook. Just after the outflow of Kokanee Lake at the outhouse, leave the trail and go due west, climbing up steep meadows and slabs of clean glacier-scoured granite. Bear left and reach the ridge running north from Mt John Carter. Continue over John Carter and climb Outlook Mt. The ridge is good class 3 scrambling. There are several choices: descend Nilsik Creek, descend to Glory Basin and the lakes, or return to the Kokanee core area via Lemon Pass or down Outlook Creek.
6. Direct from/to Gibson Lake. From the top of Outlook Mt, go down the south ridge almost directly above Gibson Lake. Spot the best lines from the first subpeak. It is 2000 feet straight down to the trail on the west side of Gibson Lake.
Glory Basin is big – at least 3 kilometres long from north to south – and up to 2kms wide at the bottom. There are reminders of old gold, silver and lead mining activity. Follow the Lemon Creek Trail past the lower Sapphire Lake and start the descent of the headwall. At the bottom of the rockslide is a meadow, tarn and cabin ruins with scattered mining junk. These claims, known as the Silver Crest Group, were worked sporadically until the early 1920s. The cabin was last home to Mr McCleod, his family and 8 miners who worked the open cuts high on the ridge to the east in the summer of 1921.
Glory Basin is trailless, rocky, and riddled with tarns, streams and pocket meadows – and an easy ramble with only 400 feet from the bottom at Sapphire Lakes to the top at the Sunshine/Outlook col. From the Sunshine/Outlook col, it is a short scramble up Sunshine (670′) or Outlook (620′). From Outlook continue on its north ridge and traverse Mt John Carter, descending to Glory Basin or Kokanee Lake.
There is no camping at Sapphire Lakes. The camping area has been closed by parks.
If doing a backpack (the only fair way to see this seldom-visited wonder), alternative camping could be in Upper Glory Basin.
What to do?
1. Glory Basin. It can take a half day just to explore Glory Basin. 3 km long and about 2kms wide at the bottom. Sapphire Lakes – 11.3km, 2250m (7380′). The campground is closed.
2. Most of the day will be required to climb all the summits on the south end – all a short climb less than an hour from the basin: Sunshine Mt (2601m 8533′), Outlook Mt (2591m 8479′) and Mount John Carter (2602m 8540′) one km NNE of Outlook on the east edge of the basin.
3. Mt Giegerich (2438m 8000′) is 1km NW of Sapphire Lakes. Beyond is a long ridge extending to the northwest towards Enterprise Pass: Mt Giegerich, Nansen Mt (2469m 8100′), Mt Robert Smith (2470m 8104′) and Boomerang Mt (8210;). Boomerang is normally climbed from Enterprise Creek and Heather Lake. Climb Mt Robert Smith and Nansen from Timber Creek (inaccessible as Enterprise Creek FST is out at 5km). Now the only reasonable access to any of these summits is from Glory Basin and Kokanee Pass.
4. From Sapphire Lakes (Lemon Pass) Kaslo Lake and the core area of Kokanee Glacier PP is 3.2 km more – all downhill.
5. Lemon Creek Trail. 9.6 km down from Sapphire Lakes. The bridge is washed out .6km from the lakes. The difficult crossing of Lemon Creek will be easier late in the season and early in the day (with less run-off). Best to cross the creek at the lakes where it is easy, scramble down the north side of Lemon Creek and access the trail after the washout. Or stay on the south side and bushwhack down the cliff. It is steep but not particularly dangerous. You can access the trail again when it crosses back to the south side below the headwall.